![]() ![]() Many turkey hunters sound just like turkeys. Never presume that what you hear is a turkey. If another hunter is working a bird, don’t spoil it by trying to call the bird to you or spooking the bird. Do your homework before season – scouting, practice calling, patterning your gun.Ħ. Be sure you’re shooting at a gobbler during the spring season.ĥ. Hens are not legal targets in the spring. Body shots kill turkeys only a small percentage of the time.Ĥ. Make sure that the gobbler is within sure range of the shotgun and shoot at only the neck and head area. After you pull the trigger, it’s too late.ģ. Obtain permission to hunt on private property and pay attention to “no trespass” signs.Ģ. You can help ensure that turkey hunting will be available to future generations by observing the following safety and ethical considerations: Many audio and video tapes, as well as CD-ROMs, featuring champion callers are available, and learning from these is almost as good-as rubbing elbows with a knowledgeable caller. Once a type of turkey call is selected, practice is the key to success. The beginner should try a number of calls to determine which can be mastered. Other calls utilize air blown from the mouth or pulled into the call by mouth. More hunters are successful with box calls than any other call. Beginners would be wise to start with a box call. Some are hand operated, using a lever or striker on a wood, slate or aluminum surface friction between the surface and the striker produces the sound. Turkey calls come in a variety of shapes and sizes. To be legal, such a caller must be manually operated no electronic calls are legal. Most hunters use a handmade or commercial calling device. In New Jersey, a call must be in one’s possession. Some turkey hunters call using their own voices. They are, however, still interested in mating and will respond to a hen, or a person’s imitation of a hen. At this time, the gobblers are “excess baggage,” having completed their portion of the reproductive process. The spring hunting season is timed carefully to coincide with the period when the hens are incubating. These gobblers may be harvested without endangering the reproductive success in a given year. Because one tom can easily inseminate seven or more hens, there are always surplus toms in the turkey population. Interested in hens only for breeding, they do not take part in the rearing of young. Gobblers are polygamous and collect a harem of hens. This display impresses the hen and puts her “in the mood” for breeding. He fans his tail, puffs himself up and drags his wings in full strut. The tom answers by gobbling and moving toward her. ![]() When she is really serious about mating, she emits a series of fast, high-pitched yelps called a cackle. To let a gobbler know where she is, a hen will call to him in yelps. They communicate with each other through a series of yelps, whines, purrs, and whistles. Hens cannot gobble, but do have a repertoire of calls all their own. More importantly, hens are attracted by the sound so that the business of breeding can be attended to. The sound warns other males that the hens of a given area belong to the gobbling tom. Gobblers sound off to stake out a territory. It is in the spring, however, that gobbling begins in earnest. Tom turkeys may gobble at any time of year, and often do so in response to a loud noise. The gobble of the male turkey, though often associated with Thanksgiving, is more of a spring phenomenon. Patterning Target (pdf, 50kb) Talking Turkey When he finally turned loose he made it about 50yds and went down, he still had the waddles in his mouth.Primary Turkey Range and Public Land in NJ After the shot the coyote did'nt drop the turkey for several more yds. I then shot the coyote as he was dragging the still flopping turkey. All of a sudden one of the coyotes came running in at full speed, grabbed the gobbler, & tried to take off with him. I shot the turkey as soon as he hit the ground, and he began to flop. The turkey remained silent for about 10 mins after the coyotes left, then he gobbled a few more times, and flew down in a clearing abour 20yds from me. The coyotes smelled around, then moved off in the oppisite direction from where I was set up. When the turkey saw the coyotes he shut up, but did'nt fly. One of the coyotes even looked up the tree. It was obvious from the coyotes reactions that they had come to investigate the gobbling, as I had not made any calls yet. I could see the turkey,(still in the tree) and the coyotes at the same time. Two years ago while turkey hunting I had a pair of coyotes come to the base of a tree that a gobbler was roosted in. I'll share the most interesting story with you. That said, I've only had a few coyotes come in to turkey sounds while calling. I turkey hunt in several states every year, and only miss a day of season if the weather is bad. ![]()
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